IT HAPPENED in the dark, after a thunderstorm, more
than 36 years ago and she has never spoken about it.

But according to her friends it remains the
key event which has shaped the character of Texas First Lady Laura Bush.

When she was 17 years old, the future wife of
Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, then known asLaura Welch, made a mistake that killed her
boyfriend.

On Nov. 5, 1963, at 8 p.m., Laura was driving
east on Farm Road 868 in her hometown of Midland en routeto a party. At a dangerous intersection, she
allegedly failed to see Mike Douglas, also 17, heading south on State Road
369.

Laura, traveling with her best friend Judy Dykes
and allegedly chatting about clothes, collided with Douglas' Jeep,which was doorless. He was thrown from the vehicle
and broke his neck, dying instantly.

"She didn't see him, he didn't see her," says
Dan Harris, who also was cruising Midland that night, withLaura's close friend Beverly Girdley.

"It was a terrible accident."

The Midland City authorities have declined to
release the full accident report. They have referred Freedom of Informationrequests for release of the document to the attorney
general of Texas, who has until May 15 to decide if he will make the report
public.

SOURCES in Midland's City Hall say they have heard
Texas Gov. George W. Bush will use his influence to make sure the report
is never released.

"People here don't want that wound reopened,"
says Sandra Wegner, the Midland City chief librarian. "It was a nightmare
for the whole town."

An abbreviated version of the report concluded
neither Douglas nor Laura could be blamed for the accident.

But friends say she has never fully recovered
from the tragedy.

"I don't think it has ever been far from her mind,"
says Barba Bellenger, who worked with Laura on the Richard E. LeeHigh School Yearbook in 1963.

"Laura was one of the most popular girls at Lee
High. Mike was one of the most popular boys. There were people whothought they would get married."

Jenna Welch is Laura Bush's mother and still lives
in the same house on Humble Avenue where her daughter was raised.She recalls the tragedy like it was yesterday.

"It hurt all of us very deeply," she says remembering
her anxieties when she heard her daughter was in the hospital withinjuries from the wreck.

"Laura is an only child. It was dreadful to think
she might have been killed."

MIDLAND is a small town with conservative values;
a place where everybody's business is an open book. The aftermathof the tragic accident hung over the town for
weeks.

"The students were devastated," says Annalon Glibreath,
an adviser at the school from 1962 until 1968. "Like all young kidsthey thought they were immortal. Laura spoke
like she thought she was invulnerable. The accident broke her heart and
madeher realize life is full of as much tragedy as
laughter."

Mike Douglas had moved to Midland in 1950, from
San Benito. He entered Lee High School in the same class as Laura andquickly became a favorite with all the girls.

"He was handsome and funny," recalls Dwayne Casbeer,
a pallbearer at Douglas' funeral. "He had a quality that drew people in."

Douglas, like Laura Bush, was an only child. His
parents lived just to the north of Midland and were involved with ranching
and oil.

"They did a great job raising Mike," says Dan
Harris. "He was a wonderful young man. Mike could have gone on to do anything
he wanted."

At Lee High, Mike Douglas excelled at sports,
winning places on a strong track team three years running and playing football.He also helped organize the Powder Puff Cheerleaders.

ONE of the traditions of Texas football is an
annual "powder puff" game where roles are reversed, the girls play and
the boys cheer.

It was how Douglas met Laura.

"Laura's friend Judy Dykes was on the 1963 Powder
Puff team and Mike was a cheerleader," says one of Douglas' best friends.

"Mike liked Judy but she was dating and introduced
him to Laura instead."

Laura was a very active member of school in 1963.
Her yearbook reveals she was a member of the Junior Council, the 100 Club,the Student Council and the Rebelee yearbook
staff.

Laura's high school friends say she was not involved
with sports but had made a habit of dating the most handsome guys fromthe football and track teams.

"She was a very pretty girl and as smart as a
tack," says Dan Harris, who believes most boys had a crush on the futureMrs. George W. Bush. "She dated a lot of guys
but she was never seriously involved with anyone."

In fact, Laura, like all her girlfriends, was
playing the field, looking for suitable marriage material. This, after
all, was adifferent era. Young people cruised Main Street
not the Internet and, especially in West Texas, women dated with littlethought it might lead to sex or the altar. In
1963, romantic life moved at a slower pace and it was at that tempo that
Lauraconducted her relationship with Mike Douglas.

"She and Mike went out a few times," recalls Harris.
"They went to the Agnes Diner for sodas."

HARRIS and other Lee High students from 1963 recall
everybody thought Douglas and Welch had the potential to be aperfect couple and talked of them being nominated
as Homecoming King and Queen.

"Anybody would have been lucky to get Laura,"
says a girlfriend who still lives in Midland. "She was very mature for
her age."

"I think that appealed to all her boyfriends,"
says Dan Harris. "Laura never yielded to pressure, she lived her own life
her own way."

By the fateful night of the accident, Laura and
Mike Douglas had not been together for several months.

Harris remembers this made the crash all the more
heart wrenching.

"I was out cruising with Beverly Grindley," he
says. "We heard about the accident on the radio and immediately contactedour other friends, all of whom knew both Mike
and Laura."

Laura and her friend Judy Dykes were lucky, they
only suffered minor injuries. Both were admitted to the hospital,but released two days later.

"Laura didn't know who she had killed at first,"
says Dwayne Casbeer. "Nobody could bring themselves to tell her it was
Mike."

By all accounts, the news hit Laura hard.

"It was pitiful," says Harris. "It took the heart
and life out of her. She kind of disappeared for a few weeks."

Jenna Welch said her daughter needed careful counseling
after the accident which cast her into a deep depression thatwas noticed by everybody.

"The hurt was all over her face," says a friend
who often called at the Welch household in the days after Douglas' death."It made Laura realize every act has consequences
that cannot be escaped."

THE funeral for Douglas was held the following
Saturday. It is believed neither Laura nor her parents attended,although they sent flowers.

Laura also helped write a poem for Douglas that
appears in the 1964 yearbook.

"I can still see those eyes -- full of delight,"
it begins before recalling his confident walk and sense of fun.In the third verse it says, "His imprint lingers
in the halls, Where he walked only a while ago."

"The poem made everybody cry," says a Lee High
School counselor who had just begun her career in 1963.

"After the accident, Laura became extremely subdued
and you can feel that in the memorial poem."

"People were worried about her," recalls a friend
who edited the 1964 yearbook with Laura.

"She withdrew from a lot of activities. She felt
responsible and she realized it could have been her that died. Some peoplecomplained she could have done more to comfort
Mike's parents but she didn't feel it was her place to intrude on their
grief."

Dan Harris said Douglas' parents were knocked
flat.

"Their house became a place of sadness and tears,"
he says. "They never recovered. He had filled their house with so muchenergy which was suddenly snuffed out."

THE Douglases erected a memorial to their son
at Lee High. Within two years they had moved away. Laura went on to SMUand to the University of Texas at Austin where,
in 1972, she earned a master's degree in library science.

She then went to Houston where she worked as a
librarian, living in the same apartment complex as George W. Bush,although neither of them was aware of each other.

It was not until 1977, when she was back living
in Austin as the librarian at the Dawson Elementary school, that she wasformally introduced to her future husband.

By then she was 30 and friends say she had grown
lonely and saddened that she had not yet found a man with whom tohave the children she craved.

"I think the accident was one of the reasons she
stayed single so long," says Barba Bellenger. "I believe it did kind of
haunt her."

And, friends say, it has made her very protective
of her twin girls, Barbara and Jenna.

"She has seen what it was like for parents to
lose a young child," says Harris, who lost his daughter 11 years ago."That changes somebody forever."

And, like many of her friends, Harris believes
Laura Bush only survived the harrowing incident because she had such astrong supportive family.

"They raised her to survive adversity," says her
school counselor. "I think it is one reason she could make a great first
lady."

Report: Laura Bush in 1963 Car Wreck

By JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press
Writer

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - At 17, Laura Bush ran
a stop sign and crashed into another car, killing her boyfriendwho was driving it, according to an accident
report released to The Associated Press on Wednesday.

``It was a very tragic accident that deeply affected
the families and was very painful for all involved, includingthe community at large,'' said her spokesman,
Andrew Malcolm. ``To this day, Mrs. Bush remains unable to talk about it.''

Mrs. Bush did say in March, when asked at a campaign
stop about the crash, ``I know this as an adult,and even more as a parent, it was crushing ...
for the family involved and for me as well.''

According to the two-page accident report released
Wednesday by the city of Midland, Laura Welch wasdriving her Chevrolet sedan on a clear night
shortly after 8 p.m. on Nov. 6, 1963, when she drove into anintersection and struck a Corvair sedan driven
by 17-year-old Michael Douglas.

Although previous news accounts have reported
Douglas was thrown from the car and broke his neck,those details were not in the report.

The speed of Laura Bush's car was illegible on
the report. The speed limit for the road was 55.

Neither driver was drinking, the police report
said.

Laura Bush and her passenger, Judy Dykes, also
17, were taken to a hospital and treated for minor injuries,according to an accident account printed at the
time in the Midland Reporter-Telegram.

The police report indicates no charges were filed.
That section of the report was left blank.

``As far as we know, no charges were filed,''
said Midland city attorney Keith Stretcher.``I don't think it's unusual that charges weren't
filed.''

The police report was released after an open records
request was submitted to Midland officials in March.City officials had declined to release the records
because the victims were under 18.

"At 17, Laura Bush ran a stop sign and
crashed into another car, killing her boyfriend who was driving it..."

What's the odds of running a stop sign and killing
your boyfriend????

...and what if Hillary had done such a thing?Rush the vulgar junkie's head would explode with
glee if it had been Hilary.